


Petals on the Wind

by WretchedArtifact



Series: Blossom/Bloom [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Magical Pregnancy, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24998098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WretchedArtifact/pseuds/WretchedArtifact
Summary: When Victor and Yuuri finally announce to the world that they're expecting a daughter, they carefully omit everything about her magical conception.  But as they settle into their new home in Hasetsu, Victor is troubled by the fact that he's keeping such an important secret from Yuuri's family.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Blossom/Bloom [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615321
Comments: 11
Kudos: 90
Collections: Pregnancy Flash 2020





	Petals on the Wind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soulstoned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulstoned/gifts).



“Okay,” Yuuri said, adjusting the laptop screen so the webcam was aimed at both him and Victor. “Are you ready?”

Victor tucked a large pillow into his lap to hide the bulge of his belly. “Ready!” he said.

 _I think_ , he didn’t say out loud. His heart gave a nervous flutter as Yuuri leaned forward to start the Skype call, and under the pillow, he felt the baby give a faint, sleepy kick inside his belly. “Ready, bunny?” Victor said, rubbing the spot where her foot had landed.

He and Yuuri had finally arrived at one of the most nerve-wracking moments of Victor’s pregnancy: telling Yuuri’s family about the baby. They'd delayed the announcement for as long as they could. “The second we tell them, we’re not going to be able to keep the baby a secret from anyone,” Yuuri had said a few months back. “My parents are going to tell everyone they know in Hasetsu, which means Yuuko and Nishigori will find out, which means the triplets will find out, which means—”

“—the entire Internet will find out,” Victor finished for him. He knew Yuuri was right: the Nishigori triplets were more dedicated to the pursuit of gossip than most of the actual paparazzi Victor had encountered in his career.

So he and Yuuri made sure they were completely prepared going into this moment. Their publicists were on standby with carefully worded press releases about the new addition to their family, and there were already Twitter and Instagram posts saved to their drafts announcing the big news. If they got the timing right, they’d probably beat the Nishigori triplets to posting about it by at _least_ ten minutes.

The press releases and social media posts didn’t contain the entire truth, of course. There was no mention of who was carrying the baby, and there was certainly no mention of the impossible, magical circumstances of her conception. Victor had reached the level of celebrity where just being photographed with his hair unbrushed led to forty breathless tabloid articles about how his life was falling apart. If he actually announced to the world that he was carrying Yuuri’s baby, he’d be inviting half the world’s photographers and a good handful of medical researchers to set up permanent camp on their doorstep.

But it was one thing to keep the truth a secret from the world, and another thing to keep it a secret from Yuuri’s family. “We don’t have to tell them you’re the one who’s pregnant,” Yuuri had said earlier that day, when he noticed Victor silently fretting in anticipation of the Skype call. “We can just tell them we’re adopting, or using a surrogate.”

“Well, we definitely can’t tell them we’re adopting,” Victor said. He'd dreamed of their daughter on the night of her conception, and her tiny features so strongly resembled Yuuri’s that no one would believe there wasn’t a genetic connection. “But it feels dishonest to try and keep it a secret from your family, when we’re going to be living in Hasetsu and seeing them every day.”

“All that matters is that you’re comfortable and not stressing out about it,” Yuuri said firmly. Ever since Victor’s doctor had put Victor on bed rest, Yuuri had been rigorous about eliminating all potential stressors from Victor’s life. “Whatever makes you comfortable, that’s what we should do.”

Now, as Yuuri started up the Skype call, Victor felt a light sweat break out over his forehead. From the very start, the Katsukis had accepted Victor with open arms: first as Yuuri’s coach, then as his fiancé, then as his husband. But would they really be able to accept “literal carrier of Yuuri’s child” with the same ease as the others?

When the call connected, the screen showed the Katsukis crowded around their laptop camera, the three of them already talking over one another. Mari was sitting in the center, with Hiroko and Toshiya hovering over her shoulders, and Victor could tell from Mari’s pained expression that her parents were probably giving her “helpful” advice on how to work Skype. “There they are!” Mari said pointedly in English, jabbing her finger against the screen.

Hiroko and Toshiya transitioned seamlessly from advice-giving to a cheerful chorus of greetings. “Yuuri, Vicchan, hello!” Hiroko exclaimed. The affection in her voice was so clear that it felt like a warm hand cupping Victor’s cheek.

“We were worried we’d miss your call!” Toshiya said. “Everyone was so slow leaving the onsen tonight.”

“That’s because you’ve been telling people all day that Yuuri was going to call tonight with big news,” Mari said. “You made them all curious.”

Victor felt Yuuri’s elbow lightly dig into his side, as if to say _I told you so_. “That’s exactly why I wanted to talk to you after-hours,” Yuuri said. “So the news wouldn’t make it through all of Hasetsu before we even ended the call.”

Victor couldn’t help but smile at the sound of everyone’s voices as they talked for the next few minutes: Hiroko and Toshiya’s cheerfulness, Mari’s understated dryness, the cute note of familiarity that Yuuri always got when he called home. Beneath the concealing pillow, Victor felt the baby shift in his belly, and he wondered how well she could hear the voices of her extended family on the other end of the call. The thought that one day he’d hear _her_ little voice joining in among the other Katsukis, full of childish excitement, was enough to make a lump rise up in Victor’s throat.

“So, come on,” Mari said. “What’s the news that couldn’t even wait until we see you next week?”

Yuuri looked over at Victor. There was a beat of awkward silence—the two of them hadn’t established ahead of time who was going to be the one to actually say the words out loud. Victor could see slight lines of tension on Yuuri’s face, like he was nervous, so Victor slipped his hand into Yuuri’s and squeezed. “Well, the timing isn’t the best, since it’s the middle of the skating season,” Victor said. “But...we have a surprise coming in January.”

Yuuri drew in a deep breath, then said, with audible nervousness and pride: “Victor and I are going to have a baby.”

For a moment, there was absolute silence on the other end of the call—all three of the Katsukis’ faces were frozen in genuine shock. Then sound exploded from the speakers: gasps, laughter, cheers, and a jumble of overlapping Japanese words that came too rapidly for Victor to keep up with. Yuuri gave a little hiccup of a laugh at the wall of happy sound blasting out at them, and in Victor’s belly, he felt the baby kick him twice, very hard. He didn’t know if she was annoyed at the sudden ruckus, or if it was her way of joining in on the celebration.

It took a few moments for the Katsukis to remember to switch back over to English for Victor’s benefit. The first clear sentence that Victor heard came from Mari. “Thank God,” she said. “Now _I_ don’t have to have kids.”

Victor laughed as _that_ sentiment prompted a fresh wave of words in Japanese from Hiroko and Toshiya, their excitement dipping momentarily into indignation. “But Yuuri, Vicchan, January is so soon!” Hiroko said when she finished scolding Mari. “How are you doing it? Are you adopting?”

And just like that, the moment of truth was upon them, so suddenly that Victor’s heart started pounding in his chest. Victor had mentally rehearsed this part of the conversation several times over the last few days, trying to find the perfect words to explain the impossible-sounding reality of his pregnancy. But all those rehearsed words started trickling out of his mind as he looked at the happy faces of his in-laws. They were all so excited. And he knew that if he sat there and tried to explain the strange, magical transformation that had happened inside his body, their happiness and excitement would be chased away by confusion, or disbelief.

Maybe even disgust.

So Victor clutched the pillow closer to his belly and said, too cheerfully, “We’re using a surrogate!” He gripped Yuuri’s hand so tight that it hurt.

“Yes,” Yuuri agreed, not missing a beat. “Our surrogate is due in January.”

“That means you’ve known for months!” Hiroko said, a little indignant.

Victor was about to say something charming and placating, but Yuuri just said bluntly, “We knew you and Otousan wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret.”

“Otousan’s texting someone right now,” Mari observed.

Toshiya looked up guiltily from his hands, which were concealed below the laptop camera’s view. _“Otousan!”_ Yuuri exclaimed, letting go of Victor’s hand to pick up his own cell phone. He hit _send_ on the text he’d typed up before the Skype call, telling their publicists to send out the announcements online. “You’ve only known for twenty seconds!”

“You can’t blame me,” Toshiya said glibly. “We’re going to be grandparents! Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?

“A girl,” Victor said.

Hiroko clasped her hands over her heart in delight, and Victor felt a strange swell of emotion: happiness, sadness, and guilt. They were having a girl, and she was _right here_ , behind the barrier of the pillow. He knew Hiroko’s delight would be tenfold if she knew her granddaughter was right there on the other end of the call, warm and secure, listening to their words and cheers and laughter.

But Victor couldn’t tell her. He was too afraid of seeing the delight fade away from her face.

Yuuri’s hand gently touched Victor’s back. Victor looked over at him, and now it must be _Victor_ _’s_ face that was lined with tension, because he could see the quiet concern in Yuuri’s eyes. “It’s okay,” Yuuri said, low enough that the microphone wouldn’t pick it up.

Victor swallowed down the rising lump in his throat and nodded. Yuuri rubbed soft circles against his back as the happy conversation continued, as Hiroko pulled out _her_ phone to text the half of Hasetsu that Toshiya hadn’t already alerted. Behind the pillow, Victor kept one hand cupped over his belly, and every time the baby gave him a hard little kick, he couldn’t help but guiltily think that he deserved it.

* * *

Of course, once Yuuri’s family knew, there was the small matter of dealing with the reactions from the rest of the world.

Victor didn’t call his own parents with the news. He knew their reaction would just be muted and polite, the same way they reacted to most news he sent them, and the thought of anyone in his life reacting to news of his daughter with _muted politeness_ made Victor more upset than he could express in words. So he sent his parents a short and stiffly phrased text, and a few hours later he received their brief, polite congratulations, and with that transaction complete, Victor put his parents firmly out of his mind, the same way he’d been doing for the last fifteen years.

But he _did_ call the one person in his life who’d done more to parent him than anyone else. “Yakov!” Victor exclaimed as soon as the call connected. “I have some wonderful news for you!”

“You think I don’t already know?” Yakov said, sounding irritable. “Lilia and I were sitting down to a nice quiet dinner when suddenly our phones are falling off the table with calls from reporters. An infant in the middle of the competition season, really, Vitya? How is Katsuki supposed to skate with an infant keeping him up all hours of the night? This is going to be ten times harder than when you were trying to coach and compete at the same time. Do you have any sense at all?”

It was exactly the kind of lecture Victor expected to get from Yakov, and it filled him with a happy, comfortable warmth to hear it. “No sense at all,” Victor agreed airily. “But don’t you think it’ll be good for me, Yakov? Having a baby will teach me responsibility!”

“The dog was supposed to teach you responsibility,” Yakov grumbled. Then, with a hint of begrudging sincerity: “You’re taking this seriously, Vitya? You’ve done your research, and you know what you’re getting into?”

Victor looked over at his growing shelf of pregnancy and parenting books, their tops spiky with bookmarks. “Yes,” he said. “And I know the timing is, well—”

 _“Ridiculous,”_ Yakov interjected.

“Less than ideal,” Victor said. “But I’m so happy, Yakov. And Yuuri’s so happy, too. It’ll be difficult, but I know we can do it.”

Yakov had been there for the years when _happy_ was a word Victor rarely found reason to use. He knew how much weight it held when Victor said it. “Well,” Yakov said gruffly. “Then I’m happy for you too, Vitya.”

Victor cupped his hand over his belly with a surprised smile. Who would have thought that his daughter would be the one to finally melt Yakov’s stern heart?

“But the timing is _irredeemably_ stupid,” Yakov added. “Just ridiculous. You really couldn’t have waited three more months?”

Well. She’d half-melted it, anyway.

* * *

Victor and Yuuri spent the rest of the evening in bed with their phones, trying to respond to all the texts and tweets and emails they were getting. Victor tossed and turned as he tried to find a comfortable position—the baby felt like she was aggressively digging her shoulder into his bladder—until finally Yuuri sat up with his back pressed flat against the headboard and pulled Victor in between the V of his legs. Victor settled back against the firm muscle of Yuuri’s chest with a happy sigh. “I think today went pretty well, overall,” Victor said. “We beat the triplets to Instagram by twenty minutes! They must’ve been distracted by something else.”

Yuuri kissed the side of Victor’s face, his free hand settling with familiarity on Victor’s belly. “It’s such a relief to see everyone being so supportive,” Yuuri said. “I was worried more people would be annoyed that I’m taking part of the season off.”

“A baby excuses everything,” Victor declared, resting his hand on top of Yuuri’s and interlacing their fingers. “Isn’t that right, bunny?”

Yuuri laughed as he felt the faint reverberation of the baby’s answering kick. “Everyone’s already asking if we’ve settled on a name for her yet,” Yuuri said. “Apparently at this point our list should be getting shorter, not longer.”

Victor’s small pocket notebook, which he usually used to take notes on Yuuri’s skating, now held a growing six-page list of potential girl’s names: Japanese ones, Russian ones, and some oddballs that Victor included because, as celebrities, they were allowed to give their baby as strange a name as they wanted to. “I don’t think we’ll know what to name her until we've both seen her,” Victor said. “I don’t want to take anything off the list prematurely.”

Yuuri kissed the side of Victor’s face again, his lips soft. “I can’t wait to see her,” Yuuri said wistfully.

They kept their fingers intertwined over Victor’s belly, even though tapping out texts and tweets one-handed made things slow. New messages kept popping up as their friends in different time zones belatedly caught up with their social media feeds; Chris Giacometti sent them both a text saying _“I have never felt older than I did when I heard you two CHILDREN were having a child._ _”_ Then, shortly thereafter: “ _Be honest, how many wardrobes full of baby clothes has Victor already bought?_ _”_

“That’s a silly question,” Victor scoffed. “Baby clothes are tiny, you could pack hundreds of them into one wardrobe.”

Yuuri texted back: _“Three.”_

Eventually they had to concede defeat on replying to everyone that evening. Yuuri had an early practice scheduled the next morning. They set their phones aside to charge, and Yuuri helped Victor arrange the many, many pillows he used to buttress and support his lopsided body while he slept. Having Yuuri fuss over him was one of Victor’s guilty pleasures, but tonight Victor couldn’t help but feel a little more guilt than pleasure. “What’s that expression for?” Yuuri asked, brushing Victor’s hair out of his eyes.

“I’m sorry I changed my mind about telling your family the truth,” Victor said. “I just couldn’t say it. They were so happy, and I knew if I tried to explain things, they’d just be—”

 _Disbelieving. Disgusted_.

“—confused,” Victor finished.

“It’s all right, Vitya,” Yuuri said. “If it made you feel more comfortable, then it was the right thing to do."

“But do you think they’ll wonder?” Victor asked. “When they see me? It just seems so...” He glanced down at the heavy weight of his belly, precariously balanced on the pillows. “Obvious.”

“They’ll think you’re eating well and relaxing after a long athletic career,” Yuuri said. “Trust me. They’re used to seeing me gain weight during the off-season.”

Victor nodded reluctantly, and Yuuri leaned down to give him a goodnight kiss. “No stressing out about it,” Yuuri said firmly, tapping Victor on the nose. “Promise?”

Victor tucked his head against the pillow with a smile. He really did enjoy Yuuri’s fussing. “Okay,” he said. “Promise.”

* * *

A few hours later, in the dead of night, Victor awoke to the sound of Yuuri’s phone vibrating rhythmically on the nightstand. The buzzes were coming so quickly, one after the other, that he wondered if Yuuri had mis-programmed his morning alarm. Yuuri rubbed his eyes and reached over for his phone, turning on the screen. “Is it your alarm?” Victor asked sleepily.

Yuuri smiled fondly at the illuminated screen. “Phichit just woke up in Thailand,” he said. “He's sent me thirteen texts and counting.”

* * *

The next few days were some of the busiest Victor had ever experienced in his life. Announcing the imminent arrival of their baby at the same time they were packing up to move to Japan was, in hindsight, not the most stress-free choice they could’ve made. Movers were constantly shuffling in and out of their apartment, packing up their things and carrying out furniture, and Yuuri was training long hours in preparation for his first competition of the season. While technically Victor’s doctor had told him not to accompany Yuuri to practice anymore, Victor had argued his way into attending the last half-hour of Yuuri’s ice time every day, so he could at least see the last run-through of Yuuri’s programs. When Victor arrived at the rink for the first time since their announcement, he was inundated with cheerful congratulations from everyone he encountered.

Except one. Yuri Plisetsky was on his way out of the building after his own practice, and when he saw Victor, he shuffled up to him with a scowl. “You could’ve just told me the truth,” Yuri said.

“About what?” Victor asked.

Yuri nodded at Victor’s belly.

For a second, Victor’s mind swam with confusion—because he _had_ told Yuri the truth about his magical conception, months and months ago. It just sounded so ludicrous that Yuri had rejected it immediately. “You know what this is?” Victor asked, cupping a hand over the dark, tailored sweater covering his belly.

“I looked it up online,” Yuri said. “It’s called a _hysterical pregnancy,_ or whatever. Your body’s acting like it’s pregnant even though it’s not.”

Victor was so surprised that for a moment he didn't know how to respond. Not only had Yuri cared enough to investigate Victor’s symptoms, but he’d come up with a surprisingly plausible-sounding answer. “That...certainly would explain it, yes,” Victor said.

“They say it goes away once the baby’s born,” Yuri said. “So you’ll go back to normal whenever your...surrogate, or whoever, has the baby.”

Yuri’s face had gone a little red as he spoke; they rarely talked about things as personal as this. “Wow, Yurio,” Victor said. “I’m touched that you looked into it so deeply.”

He knew the insinuation that Yuri cared about him would make Yuri bristle, and sure enough, Yuri jammed his hands into his pockets and scowled more fiercely than Victor thought possible. “I can’t believe you two idiots are having a baby,” Yuri muttered. “At least in Hasetsu you’ll have Yuuko around to make sure you don’t kill it.”

It occurred to Victor that this might be Yuri’s roundabout way of saying he’d miss them, now that he and Yuuri were leaving Russia. “Yurio, you should come visit us this summer!” Victor said. “You can meet the baby properly and we can talk about your choreography for next season.”

The little flicker of interest in Yuri’s eyes, quickly smothered, didn’t escape Victor’s notice. “Whatever,” Yuri said, but when he stomped away, it was a little less stormy than usual.

* * *

They already had a house waiting for their arrival in Hasetsu. It was the easiest real estate decision Victor had ever made, because he already knew what he was looking for. He went online, looked at the images of the properties available, and within fifteen minutes he told Yuuri, “It’s this one.”

Yuuri squinted appraisingly at the pictures of the house’s interior. “I’ll call Minako and have her take a look at it for us," he said. "Just to see if there are any problems the pictures aren’t showing.”

“She doesn’t need to,” Victor said. “Yuuri, this is _our_ _house_. I saw it in my dream!”

“Okay,” Yuuri said. “But did the dream inspect it for mold?”

A professional inspection _did_ reveal a few things in need of repair, but fortunately there was no mold. One down payment later, the house was theirs. By the time Victor, Yuuri, Makkachin and the baby arrived in Japan, their first shipment of furniture and boxes had already been delivered and unloaded inside. Victor was glad for it; the first time they unlocked the door to their new home, the familiar scent of their lives in Russia tumbled out to greet them. “Oh, Yuuri!” Victor said, going onto his tiptoes in delight as they went inside. “Look at it! Isn’t it perfect?

It wasn’t really perfect: there were boxes everywhere, and sheets of packing plastic and wadded paper on the floor, and plenty of empty gaps waiting for furniture that was still in transit. But Yuuri’s expression was soft as the two of them went from room to room, taking in the shape of their new home. “It’s wonderful,” Yuuri said, slipping his arm through Victor’s. “I’m sorry for doubting your dream.”

“I mean, it _was_ a bit nicer in the dream,” Victor said. “But we’ll have it all cleaned up in no time!”

Their flight had arrived late at night, well after Yuuri’s family had gone to bed, so they didn’t go to the onsen to see the Katsukis until the next day. Even though it wasn't that cold outside, Victor dressed in one of his dark tailored sweaters and his most midsection-concealing coat. Even though he was trying not to stress about it, Victor couldn’t help but worry that Yuuri’s family would take one look at his belly and somehow glean the impossible truth, their cheerful faces settling into wary, distant confusion.

But it turned out he had more to worry about than that. As he and Yuuri walked into the onsen, expecting to see Yuuri’s parents and a small scattering of patrons, they instead found themselves greeted by a small crowd: Yuuri’s parents, Mari, Minako, and the entire Nishigori family, as well as a suspiciously large number of patrons peering interestedly at their arrival. “Oh,” Victor said weakly, slipping his hand into Yuuri’s for support. “Hello, everyone!”

The Nishigori girls, true to form, did not mince their words. "Victor, you got fat!” Loop said loudly.

“You’re as fat as our dad now!” Axel announced.

“Girls!” Yuuko said, putting a restraining hand on each of their shoulders. “Stop that. You’re being rude.”

Takeshi came over and gave Victor a friendly clap on the back. “He’s just eating well, now that’s he retired,” Takeshi said. “After all those medals, he deserves it, huh?”

It _did_ make Victor feel a little better to see that his new stockiness wasn’t that much different than Takeshi’s, although Takeshi’s gut wasn’t nearly as pronounced. “I think Vicchan looks very nice,” Hiroko said, with touching sincerity. “And Yuuri is so thin! You’ll stay and have katsudon for lunch, right?”

“It’s the competition season, Okaasan,” Yuuri said patiently. “I can only eat it when I win, remember?”

“Oh, you can have it just this once!” Hiroko said decisively.

Yuuri looked at Victor. As Yuuri’s coach, Victor was supposed to be his bulwark against temptation, but the smell of fried pork wafting from the kitchen was so tantalizing that Victor’s own resolve wavered. “All right, just this once,” Victor said magnanimously.

Hiroko cheered and ducked back into the kitchen. Yuuri just shook his head. “You’re going to be the biggest pushover in the world once the baby’s born,” Yuuri said, leaning in to kiss Victor’s cheek.

* * *

Quicker than Victor thought possible, their life in Hasetsu settled into a pleasant, workable routine. None of Yuuri’s friends or family seemed to make the connection between Victor’s need to stay off his feet and the baby’s arrival in January. “When I asked Minako and the Nishigoris for their help, I just said one of your old skating injuries was flaring up,” Yuuri said. “They didn’t ask me for any more details.”

Victor was surprised that they hadn’t tried to pry, given that Minako and the Nishigoris were putting in a lot of work to compensate for Victor’s absence. Minako had put herself in charge of all of Yuuri’s off-ice training, running him ragged with ruthless glee, while Yuuko and Takeshi had installed a permanent video camera and laptop at Ice Castle, so Victor could watch Yuuri’s practices from home and give him live feedback. It wasn’t the same as being there in person, but with a large new television installed on the wall of their living room, the setup worked surprisingly well. Victor could coach while lying down on the couch, a warm blanket over his belly and Makkachin curled up at his feet. “I feel guilty being this comfortable,” Victor admitted, after Yuuri skated back up to the laptop after a particularly brutal run-through of his free skate. “You’re working so hard out there.”

“Just keep the couch warm for me,” Yuuri said tiredly, wiping the sweat from his brow. “As soon as I get home, I’m going to lie on it and never get back up.”

Unfortunately, there were still several more hours of practice to get through before the two of them could curl up together on the couch. When Yuuri took a break to eat his lunch, Victor got up too and padded to the kitchen, his too-small pajama shirt riding up on his belly. Either the shirt had shrunk in the wash, or his belly had grown noticeably bigger in just the last few days. Underneath the thin cotton, the baby was doing what felt like gyroscopic somersaults inside him, so wriggly and fidgety that it made Victor laugh. “What’s gotten into you, bunny?” he asked, opening up the cupboards to browse their food selection. “Did I go too long between now and breakfast? You poor thing, you must be starving. I got too caught up in your papa’s practice.”

He braced one hand against his belly and leaned forward, reaching deep into one of the higher cupboards. “What are you in the mood for, little mouse?” he asked. He rubbed the spot where her little feet were battering irritably against him. “I know your papa said no more meals that come out of boxes, but maybe just this once—”

He heard a small, odd noise coming from the living room, and he paused in his rooting around through the cupboard. He rocked back on his heels, glancing around the side of the cupboard door—

—to see Hiroko Katsuki standing in the living room, the front door open behind her, a covered dish in her hands. Her mouth was open, and her soft, kind face was frozen in shock.

A surge of panic flooded instantly through Victor's system. How long had she been standing there? Victor's taut watermelon of a belly was completely visible through his shirt, and he'd been talking to the baby for the last minute, cooing to her in that sing-song cadence he always used when the two of them were alone. How was he supposed to explain...any of that?

“Ah,” Victor said finally, his voice cracking unpleasantly at the end of the sound. “H-hi, Okaasan.”

Hiroko turned around and went back to the front door. For a second, Victor’s heart lurched in his chest, thinking she was going to leave without a word, but she just closed the door with a _click_ and turned back around. “I brought you lunch,” she said, holding up the dish.

“Thank you,” Victor said weakly. His hands instinctively moved to tug down on his shirt, even though he knew it wouldn’t help.

Hiroko set the dish down on the kitchen table and approached Victor with slow, measured steps. Even though she was normally too polite to do things like stare, her eyes were fixed steadily on the sight of Victor’s belly. The expression on her face was hard to read: the only thing he could think, looking at it, was _Yuuri looks so much like her._ Which meant the baby, too, was going to look so much like her. The thought put a sudden ache in Victor's heart.

Hiroko stopped when she was only a little ways away from Victor, and now Victor could see the same little furrow between her brows that Yuuri sometimes got when he was curious. With gentle slowness, she lifted her hands and cupped the air in front of her. “Can I?” she asked.

Victor was so surprised by the request that he momentarily forgot how to speak. He nodded. Hiroko took one last step forward and placed her hands softly on Victor’s belly. It was so strange—only Yuuri and his doctors had touched his belly like that, and in recent months their hands had always been firm and familiar. But Hiroko’s hands were tentative, pushing down with only the slightest hesitant pressure.

Victor didn’t know what he would’ve done if the baby had chosen that moment to go still. Fortunately, she was just as hungry as she was a minute ago, and under the gentle press of Hiroko’s hands she landed a walloping kick. “Oh!” Hiroko exclaimed, pulling her hands back in surprise before setting them back down again. “She's so strong!”

Victor gave a disbelieving little laugh. Hiroko looked up at him, that curious furrow still on her brow. There was no sign of disgust or wariness on her face—just clear, open surprise. She said, softly, “How?”

It was a very short question with an impossibly complicated answer. “I don’t know if you’d believe me," Victor said honestly.

Then the baby kicked again, and Hiroko's attention dropped down to Victor’s belly. “Oh, such a hungry girl!” she said, and her tone was full of such sweet, scolding grandmotherliness that it made Victor’s heart ache even harder. “You can’t wait to let us talk, you must have your food now?” She looked back up at Victor. “Sit down, Vicchan. She says you must eat.”

Victor sat down dumbly at the kitchen table, his fingers fumbling with the chopsticks Hiroko pressed into his hand. “You don't think I'll believe you," she said. "I say you should tell me the story, and then I’ll tell you if I believe you.”

In that moment, he couldn't have thought of a lie if his life depended on it. So he told her the truth. He told her about the strange flower he’d picked during his honeymoon with Yuuri, and the sweet, wistful dream of a baby he had that night. He told her about what the doctors had found when he returned to Russia, feeling sick. The story sounded absolutely ridiculous as it left his mouth, and he felt even more foolish when Hiroko made him pause periodically to take another bite of his lunch. But her expression didn’t cloud over, or turn suspicious. She just listened, with that familiar little furrow still on her brow.

When he had told her everything, he watched as the furrow smoothed away. A little smile lifted the edge of her lips. “Do you remember, the first time you came to the onsen, it started snowing?” she asked.

Victor did, very vividly. The flowering pink trees on the road had been laden down with snow. “It never snows here in April,” Hiroko said. “And the next day, poof! It was all gone. I told Toshiya, ‘I think Vicchan brought the snow with him.’”

The idea put a tremulous smile on Victor’s face. “And Toshiya said...” Hiroko paused for a second, trying to find the English term in her head. “What is it? _Climate change._ ”

Victor laughed without meaning to, putting his hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t lose any of the rice he was chewing. “Very unromantic,” Hiroko said, waving her husband's opinion away with one hand. “Magic made more sense to me. I think maybe magic follows you around, Vicchan.”

Victor had tried very hard not to carry around the weight of the secret he was keeping, but Hiroko's words and kind, smiling eyes were lifting a weight from his soul that he hadn't realized had gotten so heavy. "So you believe me?" he asked.

Hiroko nodded. Victor pressed his lips together, a lump rising up in his throat, and she leaned forward and patted his forearm. "I remember, with Yuuri, he would fuss when I hadn't eaten too," she said. She indicated Victor's belly. "She'll be just like Yuuri, I think. Very hungry and fussy, but so sweet when she's sleeping."

The baby had indeed settled down as Victor ate, and now she was snug and quiet inside him. “I think she enjoyed the lunch very much,” Victor said. "We both did."

Hiroko smiled. "Good," she said. "I should bring you food more often. More vegetables next time! You need to stay healthy."

She rose from her chair and started clearing away Victor's dish. Victor watched her do it with a question hesitating on his lips, one last worry still lingering in his mind. Finally he said: “Do you think I should tell everyone else?”

“No,” Hiroko said, so bluntly it was almost funny. “They’ll only bother you with questions. You need to relax!”

She had never sounded more like Yuuri than in that moment, and it filled Victor's heart with relieved warmth. "So you'll be okay keeping it a secret?" he asked.

Hiroko's eyes twinkled. "I know Yuuri says I can’t keep secrets,” she said. “But I can. When I want to.”


End file.
